Guide
Shipping from Mexico is not the same as Mexican origin
Updated
The most expensive assumption in nearshoring is that moving production to Mexico automatically changes the duty position. It does not; origin is a technical determination about the goods.
Origin is not shipment
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement sets rules of origin that determine whether goods qualify for preferential treatment. Those rules are specific to the goods and turn on things like where materials came from and what transformation occurred.
A part machined in Mexico from material that did not qualify may not itself qualify. Shipping from Mexico is a fact about logistics, not about origin.
Classification comes first
Duty rate and admissibility follow the Harmonized System code. The classification determines which rule of origin even applies, so getting the code right precedes every other trade question.
Ask a customs professional to classify the finished part before you model any saving.
Model the landed cost, not the piece price
A nearshoring case built on piece price alone ignores duty, freight, packaging, inventory carried and the cost of quality escapes. Some of those move in your favour and some do not.
The genuine gains from nearshoring are usually in lead time, inventory and iteration speed rather than in the unit price, and those are the ones worth quantifying.
Document the position
If you intend to claim preferential treatment, the supporting documentation matters and it is your responsibility as importer.
Agree with the supplier at the outset what documentation they will provide and in what form. Retrofitting it after the first shipment is considerably harder.